Gaylord teen earns junior black belt

GAYLORD - Jordan Mater, 13, stands up, places his feet together, stretches out his arms, one hand overlapping the other, nods a small nod, and then:

Forearm block. Upward punch. L-stance. Strike. Rotate. Block.

These movements blend together, step-by-step, like a dance. A kick turns into a spin turns into a punch turns into a block.

Jordan is demonstrating an advanced pattern from Tae Kwon Do (the art of punching and kicking), a sport he has been practicing and perfecting more than half his life.

All of his training paid off because on Sept. 21 Jordan earned his junior black belt.

"I had to do a lot of training with everybody in the academy and we do all the patterns that I have to memorize and stuff,"

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Jordan said.

When Jordan was 5, he became interested in this Korean form of Tae Kwon Do, a noncombative style of self-defense, after watching his older brother and father practice. Because of club rules, he was not allowed to join until he was 6.

Through seven years, he has worked up the rungs of the Tae Kwon Do ladder beginning with the lowest rung: the white belt.

Each degree, or belt, Jordan worked toward dictated his training schedule based on the difficulty of what he was trying to master. Sometimes that meant training just two nights a week after school. But other times, he would train four nights a week to become proficient.

"You have to put all your mind into it," Jordan said.

For every half-step and full-step between belts, he had to learn a new pattern or routine, new combinations for sparring and continued practice of breaking boards with his bare feet (he had to break two to earn his junior black belt).

"It's really fun and I want to get higher in rank and I want to keep doing it with my dad," Jordan said.

In two years, when Jordan turns 15, he will again have to prove that he has mastered the patterns, the combination punches and the board breaking (he has to break five) to receive a black belt without the "junior" attached.

Then, Jordan will continue to advance by adding degrees of experience onto his black belt which are measured in years. And he plans to continue training for a long time.

"Well, after my dad doesn't feel like teaching anymore, I want to take over his class," said Jordan.